Is Villeneuve a Rookie?

Wednesday, October 3, 2007, 2:42 PM

Seems as though a lot of people are pitchin'-a-fit over Jacques Villeneuve's move to NASCAR and NASCAR's accompanying decision to let him run his first race at one of the series most dangerous tracks - Talladega - and without any experience in Busch cars or Craftsman trucks.

Is Villeneuve a rookie?
No. Not to auto racing, but he is a rookie in Nextel Cup.

Why did NASCAR okay him to drive without any prior experience?
Because NASCAR has hit a point where the series is no longer expanding at the frenetic pace of the late 90's and early 00's. At best it has leveled off - at worst it is going through a down period. Look around the series and you will see quite a few empty seats where once there were none. Television ratings are down, even with The Chase in full attack mode. Football season has started. The MLB playoffs are starting and the World Series is just around the corner. No, NASCAR decided that having an ex-Formula One Champion on the dance card for one of its biggest races could do nothing but help ratings and possibly introduce fans of the delicate and nimble open-wheel cars to the brawling, brute force that are NASCAR stock cars.

Why are some NASCAR drivers reluctant to have Villeneuve race with them on this particular track?
Its not that Villeneuve isn't a talented driver, they know that he is, but being a talented driver is not necessarily the be-all and end-all of motor sports. There is a learning curve associated with a change in the kind of car you race. He will be going from a car that creates enough down force to run upside-down to a car that is nearly twice the weight and with a whole lot less down force - and one that should never be upside down.
The biggest headache for open wheel drivers is adjusting to driving in traffic inches apart for extended periods of time. For the most part, after a few heart stopping, wheel to wheel moments in the first few laps, a road racer settles down to race against the track. Once the field becomes strung out (especially in F-1) the driver is trying to lay down the best laps that he can, without interference from cars left and right of him. On occasion he comes up against a slower car and will then go into pass mode, looking to out-brake or out-accelerate the other car. Once the pass is made, he settles in again to race the track.

In stock car racing, due to the basic commonality of oval tracks, the track is secondary and the driver must deal with an almost constant crush of cars that are on his left, right, front and back. Road racers are side-by-side for only moments in most instances, while stock car drivers are door-to-door and bumper-to-bumper for a good amount of the time. Add to this the nuances of a 3400 lb car with aerodynamics that change every time a car moves around them and you have a recipe for disaster for even the most experienced stock car driver.
This is where talent and experience become two wholly different animals and its where the concern over Villeneuve comes from. This is why drivers would rather have him drive a few races in a lower series, if only to get a feel for the dynamics of the car and the traffic he will constantly be running in.

Hopefully NASCAR hasn't risked the lives of those whose backs the series rides on, for a few moments of excitement and better television ratings for one race.